On Walkabout At: The 2007 Bendigo Easter Parade – Part 3

Without a doubt the most eye turning float in the parade was the Bendigo gay and lesbian organization:

You could actually hear and feel the excitement in the crowd die down as this float drove by. The weirdest person in drag on this float was the guy dressed up in a cocacabana outfit on the end of the float who had a baby doll nursing off his nipple. WTF?

I was actually surprised by how large the Falun Gong group was. They actually put on a pretty good demonstration including the meditation exercises above and people dressed in traditional Chinese outfits below:

The Falun Gong precession was followed by Tibetan monks another religious group facing persecution from the Chinese government:

These monks actually maintain a temple just outside of Bendigo and had quite a few members marching in the parade.

The local tourist gold mine also had a float in the parade:

There are still 17 gold mines operating in and around Bendigo and the Central Deborah gold mine is located right in the middle of Bendigo. On one of their shafts located 90 meters below the city, they have opened up for tourists to visit. My wife and I have taken this tour and it was really quite an interesting experience.

They were soon followed by the Scouts:

In Australia the boy and girl scouts are integrated into one organization called the Scouts which is different from the US.

The Scouts were followed by the Australian Defence Force:

The vehicle you see above is called a Bushmaster and is manufactured locally in Bendigo. The Bushmaster had some ADF infantry soldiers following it:

They were using patrolling tactics as they walked down the road and this young girl by us asked her dad what the soldiers were doing and the dad told the young girl that this is what these guys have to do since they couldn’t find a real job. He got a few laughs from his buddies, but what a jerk to look down on these guys serving their countries especially coming from a guy that was overweight, with a ponytail, and wearing a wife beater at the parade. Additionally these soldiers are not even active duty, they are from the local Bendigo reserve infantry unit. So not only do they have another job, but they do this one on top of it.

The local bushfire department also had a vehicle in the parade as well:

Does these vehicle seem familiar to you? It should because it is made by the same Bendigo company that makes the ADF’s Bushmaster.

The parade was getting towards its finale put on by the local Chinese Association: